We are poorly

At present the grey hairy one and I are watching the advancing weather front as the predicted storm gathers momentum across the UK. As I speak the daylight is diminishing quickly as we switched to winter hours last night when the clocks went back an hour. It adds to the melancholy the grey hairy one and I feel at the moment, as due to circumstances beyond my control we are both inactive - by that I mean there is:-
No spinning, no knitting, no dog walking, no housework (as disasters go this particular one probably doesn't count), no baking (I am told that watching the Great British Bake Off Final this week also does not count), no driving and not at work.

(The grey hairy one enjoying our lovely summer weather a couple of months ago. Note he had been stiffing the flowers and is oblivious to the evidence of a petal stuck to the end of his nose!)

The reason for the inactivity? We are both poorly, taking it in turns to yelp, whimper and gaze at each other in sympathy as we attempt movement to find a more comfortable way of sitting or lying. My dear grey hairy one has hurt his neck and despite several visits to the Vet is not really improving. He has a cocktail of painkillers to take (as have I) and if there is no change then our Vet is going to arrange for the grey hairy one to have a scan to see if we can find the cause and mend the problem.

As for me, last week I had a flu vaccination at work for the first time. No problem except the next day I woke with backache which persisted throughout the day. As it was an 'office day' I wasn't overly concerned but as the day on went the pain got worse. By Saturday I was in quite a state and by Sunday I resorted to seeing the emergency Doctor as by now the pain was shooting across my shoulder and down my arm. It also felt remarkably similar to the pain I experienced a few years ago when I developed Shingles and in the same place. Sure enough, it's Shingles and I have spent the week tucked up indoors.

As I resume my ramblings the night has been and gone and so to the storm has passed us by, with little damage here thank goodness! There was a lot of rain during the night and this morning the wind was noisy and the garden took a battering but all seems fine. I am signed off work this week, the pain in my back, shoulder and arm shows no sign of abating so I guess it's going to be another week of inactivity ahead. The grey hairy one had a peaceful night with little yelping and following a bracing walk this morning in the wind and rain (not with me I hasten to add, I was still tucked up under my duvet) he is contently curled up asleep on his bed beside me. I think the painkillers are helping him so fingers and paws crossed that his neck will ease.

As promised a while back here is a photo of the finished skein of the Cherry Blossom Yarn complete with freshwater pearls. I took this photo just after I had washed the finished skein to 'set' the twist and so it still looks a bit scrunched up and not at it's best. It was an interesting project.

To keep me going during this period of non-spinning time I am going to read some more of Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee's excellent books on knitting and follow her blog www.yarnharlot.ca which yesterday had some gorgeous pictures of rainbow dyed yarn packs.
Bernie.